FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT OBESITY - PAGE 3

Age, height and weight are just some of the physical attributes you are required to fill up on the form when you go to buy life insurance. Soon, there may be an additional column that may take you by surprise ? Body Mass Index (BMI), or if you prefer the layman's version, obesity. BMI is an indicator used by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to define obesity. A BMI of over 30 indicates obesity. So what does that have to do with your life insurance? If you've been packing the pounds, you may have to shell out more in terms of insurance premiums.

A two-inch tongue can kill a six-feet man. Modern obesity statistics confirm this traditional saying. The prosperity of the Indian middle class is showing up ? in a not-so-pleasant way in the burgeoning waistline of over 25% of urban Indians. Obesity is the cause of diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks and a variety of other diseases. The same trend is seen globally. For example, in the US, obesity, if left unabated, is set to overtake smoking as the number one cause of preventable death.

LONDON: People who believe in luck and fate are more likely to be obese due to their unhealthy lifestyle, a new study has found. The study found that those who place their lives in the hands of fate were less likely to change their lives by their own actions, leading to conditions including obesity. Their outlook meant that they exercised less, ate less healthily and smoked and drank more than those who believed their life was in their own hands, the 'Daily Mail' reported. A team from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research looked at the diet and exercise habits of more than 7,000 people and compared the results to their personality types.

NEW YORK: Regularly getting 5 hours or less of shut eye a night does not appear to have a considerable influence body weight or waist size over time, according to findings from a long-term study of British workers. While some past research has identified a relationship between obesity and a lack of sleep, this research could not affirm which came first ? the lack of sleep or the weight problem. To clarify whether lack of sleep over time might be related to obesity, Francesco P Cappuccio and colleagues analysed information from more than 10,000 white-collar British civil servants participating in a long term forward-looking study called the Whitehall II study.

A two-inch tongue can kill a six-footer of a man. Modern obesity statistics confirm this traditional saying. The prosperity of the Indian middle class is showing up, in a not-so-pleasant way in the burgeoning waistline, of over 25% of urban Indians. Some experts state that unhealthy eating habits ? caused largely by aggressive advertising of fast foods ? are behind the obesity epidemic. So they suggest that increased nutritional awareness and change of food habits to tackle obesity.

In Super Size Me producer and director Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a strict McDonald's diet for a month. The dietary restriction are simple:Spurlock has to have three meals a day, he has to try everything in the menu, and every time a McDonald's employee asks him whether he would like to super-size the order, Spurlock has to say yes. Thirty days later, Spurlock is spitting French fries. His cholesterol is way above the normal and he has gained 30 pounds. He suffers from headaches, nausea, depression, insomnia and body-shakes.

KOLKATA: It's nearing as an epidemic in the West. The scenario is fast changing in India too with obesity emerging as a major lifestyle threat. While globally a billion people are overweight, estimates suggests that nearly 15-17% of Indians falls under this category. As weight increases, the risk of chronic diseases such as heart ailments and diabetes too rises. The silver lining, though, is that simple diet, lifestyle changes and a regular exercise can work wonders. "Following such a regimen is one of the best ways to reduce weight," says Wockhardt Hospitals, Kolkata, obesity surgeon B Ramana.

The prices of shares are plummeting, but the food prices are going up at the grocery store. Just thinking about it could make you lose your appetite and inspire belt-tightening--or, alternatively, give you a serious craving for some comfort food. Rising unemployment, higher food prices and dwindling savings may exacerbate the the global obesity problem, sending already high rates ballooning as consumers turn to cheaper, more unhealthy choices. "All evidence suggests that obesity is the toxic consequence of a failing economic environment," Adam Drewnowski, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, was quoted as saying by MSNBC.

WASHINGTON: No more Coke and Pepsi for young school children in the US. Amidst concerns over growing obesity among children in the country, American American Beverage Association (ABA), a trade body, has said its members will only stock bottled water and 100 per cent juice in vending machines in elementary schools. Extending cooperation to the the anti-obesity drive, the Association said it will provide "only nutritious and/or lower calorie beverages in middle schools.

Gulp this. Human beings are better adapted to starvation than food abundance. Having said this, now take a look at the facts: According to estimates, there are close to 2.1 billion overweight people in the world, of which over 1 billion reside in developing countries. India, which according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is slated to become the global capital of type II diabetes by 2025, accounts for 97 million obese people at present. In India, particularly in city areas, there is a sizeable number of people suffering from obesity due to bad living style and unhealthy food habits.